Friday, March 10, 2006

I lied. Less than a week ago, my post about a packaged Japanese cod roe sauce for spaghetti proclaimed, “Next time we post about fish roe or any kind of roe, it will be shad roe.” What I’d failed to anticipate was the possibility of dealing with the roe of yellow perch. During past yellow perch seasons, I’ve experimented with their roe, always treating it like shad roe and leaving the eggs in their membrane sacks. Never were the results particularly pleasing. Recently, I found on the web a single recipe to try if any more super fresh yellow perch landed on ice in Baltimore. Yesterday, at Northeast Market, there they were,laden with roe and looking fresh enough to jump. The roe of some of them are pictured above. The recipe is from the good folks at Plainsfolk. I liked it and am sharing it with a few brief comments relating to my own experience.

First remove the perch eggs from their sacks. I kept them in a bowl of cold water while doing so, then strained after all membrane had been removed. Splash a little oil in a pan, and saute the perch eggs and garlic. Season to taste with salt, pepper, lemon juice, and paprika. Meanwhile, dissolve a chicken bouillon cube in a glass of white wine and add to the pan. Simmer to reduce and pour over spaghetti.From Plainsfolk.com